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Sunday, October 3, 2010

This was a week full of good food from the seaweed soup to the winter squash, which were finally ready to devour. The Captain explained that the orange tint on the outside of this Honey Bear acorn squash was a sign it was ripe. Here's a simple way to...

cook and enjoy these incredible fall fruits. (To skip right to the squash recipe)

Preheat your oven to 375. While the oven warms up, you have plenty of time to prep your squash. Just cut it right down the middle into two even pieces. Scoop out all of the seeds and stringy parts and put them aside. As always, there is no waste, only potential so we can figure out a way to eat these once we get the squash in the oven.

This guy knows what I'm talking about...

Once the two halves are clean, take a baking pan and fill it up with about an inch of water and put the squash face down to create a cave inside where heat and water can work together to keep the squash moist and soft.

Place the pan in the oven for 45 minutes.

Now that we have all this extra time until the squash is ready, we can take the seeds, clean them and toast them. Let's just say cleaning and drying the seeds is not the most fun part of the process. These little slippery seeds clearly have no intention of going into the toaster quietly.

In a last ditch effort for survival, a few sneaky seeds will hang on to the paper towel for dear life. Trust me, you don't want to pull these off and cook them; paper towel-covered squash seeds are definitely not what you're looking for. A rag or cloth would be a good option instead, since the material would hold up against the sticky seeds (yes, slippery when wet, sticky when dry...these seeds are nuts) and you don't have to waste unnecessary paper.

Once the seeds dry, place them on a baking sheet, drizzle a little olive oil on top, sprinkle some salt and place it in the oven at 350 until they crisp and brown to your taste.

Meanwhile back at the squash...after 45 minutes poke to check if they are slightly soft to the touch. At this point you can take it out and your ready to eat. Although it is perfectly delicious to eat by itself, some people enjoy adding some butter and maple syrup. Both ways are great.

This simple technique works great with many types of winter squash. Enjoy.

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